Retail stores and supermarkets sell a great variety of small items such as novelty items, toys, household products, etc. It is often desirous to have a point of purchase display means in the form of open bins or containers wherein these items may be conveniently stored within the public areas of the store and at the same time fully displayed for merchandising purposes. Moreover, display bins of the open container type afford easy access to the items so that shoppers may take them for purchase. Display bins such as these are often placed at the end of isles or adjacent check out counters for maximum product visibility.
The present invention relates to a display bin of the above-described type which is easy and inexpensive to manufacture, convenient to ship and/or store in its unassembled form, and easy to assemble. The novel bin disclosed herein is assembled into any desired shape and size from two basic components: (1) one or more flat, molded, plastic, flexible wall sheets and (2) a bottom plate. Generally, each molded wall sheet is shaped in a rectangular form having appropriate length and width dimensions and provided with a plurality of small fastening holes or other suitable fastening means spaced across at least the end edge portions of the sheet. The lower edge portion of the sheet is molded to include a plurality of spaced, vertical ribs.
To assemble the bin, the molded sheet is simply bent about an axis extending widthwise to the sheet to form a three-dimensional body with the opposite end edge portions thereof in an overlapping relation, and the fastening holes of overlapping portions in alignment. Fastening elements are then inserted into several of the aligned fastening holes to fasten the overlapping portions of the sheet together and thereby secure the wall sheet in the three-dimensional form. The exact geometric shape of the wall body may be varied, but in the preferred embodiment, the wall sheet is bent into a cylindrical body.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the cylindrical body is arranged so that the molded-in ribs project internally of the body, near the floor, and thus form an annular array of vertical, internal support ribs, The bottom plate rests on and is supported by shoulder portions of these vertical ribs, to form the assembled display bin. To advantage, the bottom plate may be of any appropriate geometric shape, for example, square, oval, circular or triangular, provided adequate rounding of the corners is provided for. The insertion of the shaped bottom plate into the cylindrical body will form the flexible wall sheet of the body into a corresponding cross section.
In one advantageous form of the invention, the lower edge portion of the molded wall sheet is provided with means to support a caster plate below the vertical ribs. The caster plate includes caster rollers so that the assembled display bin may be easily moved about.
In accordance with another feature of the present invention, the vertical ribs may be molded into a multi-step arrangement and the bottom plate may be of appropriately smaller diameter or may be provided with a plurality of notches spaced around the circumference thereof. For example, the vertical ribs may be of a two step configuration. The notches, if used, are of sufficient depth so that the bottom plate may be passed over the upper portions of the vertical ribs, by aligning the plate notches therewith. However, the notches are of insufficient depth to clear the second, raised step or lower portion of the vertical ribs, whereby the bottom plate will be supported by the extending portions of the second rib steps. In the event a shallower depth is desired for the display bin, a notched bottom plate may be oriented such that the notches do not align with the vertical ribs, whereby the plate will be supported by the top portions of the first rib steps. In this manner, the volume of the display bin may be easily varied depending on the amount of merchandise to be stored therein.
To advantage, the wall sheet may also be provided with a plurality of small fastener-receiving openings spaced across the entire width of the sheet. This enables the bottom plate to be raised to an even higher position by inserting support elements through several of the openings, whereby the bottom plate will rest on protruding portions of the support elements.
For display purposes the wall sheet may be molded from a transparent material. Moreover, the wall sheet may be provided with a plurality of large cut portions to further increase product visibility and provide a means for dust to escape from the interior of the bin.
In a useful modification, a pair of display bins may be stacked one above the other, with the upper display bin being of small diameter and spaced above the lower. A bottom plate is provided only in the lower bin. With this arrangement, merchandise packages may be arranged to fill the lower bin and extend up into the bottomless upper bin, with the product exposed and accessible for removal in the space between the bins. As successive articles are removed from the exposed area, they are replenished by gravity feed of new articles from the bottomless upper bin.
To particular advantage, one side edge of the flexible wall sheet is provided with a plurality of integrally molded fastening elements and the other side edge is provided with a plurality of openings for the reception thereof. When assembling the bin, the integral fastening means will be received into the openings of the opposite end of the same sheet (or of similar sheet when several wall sheets are connected edge-to-edge) to secure the wall in the three dimensional body shape. Moreover, the first several vertical ribs adjacent the end edge portions of the flexible wall sheet may be formed to define a nestable cross-section. Upon forming of the wall sheet to make up the display bin, the nestable ribs will be disposed in the overlapping areas of the folded sheets. The projecting ribs of one edge of the sheet will nest within the cavity of the ribs of the overlapping edge. To advantage, the nested ribs will provided added support of the overlapping portion of the assembled display bin.
For a better understanding of the above and other features and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention and to the accompanying drawings.